Ash and Honey [BL]

It took only about five unearthed graves for night to set in. It wasn't that Tian Han was slow, he was actually quite diligent in his work ethic, but none of these graves held what he was looking for. Grave after grave they unearthed caskets and no spirit vessel was found.

A spirit vessel was a trinket: often porcelain dolls, dressed in soft white clothing, but there were so many other possibilities. As long as it had a high constitution to spiritual energy, it could be used to hold it as well. Because of this, a spirit vessel could be: a jade amulet, a qi imbued vase with either pretty or ugly designs, and many more. The limitation was almost up to one's own imagination, so long as one had willingness to restart should it fail.

Once a curse was placed on the chosen item, it would have the ability to draw in warped demonic entities, or spirits. In a sense, it was a lure for negative energy. Sometimes this could be used for hunting, but the problem came when it was placed around non-demonic entities. 

Because of the item's nature, it carries the ability to corrupt. 

Tian Han was now on break, and sitting on the shrine porch beside Fu Ran. He was dripping with sweat, and his skin was reddened in various places from over exertion.

It was still spring, albeit late, so it wasn't the hotter seasons yet, but by no means was it cool either. This Peak Master isn't a monster, Fu Ran thought, searching his belongings for a satchel of water. Tian Han looked terribly excited when he was presented with a drink. So much so, that Fu Ran was almost reluctant to hand it over. 

Does he know? The Tyrant Emperor must know, right? How much stress his confusing behavior causes?

"Thank you," Tian Han said, smiling.

The look of innocence made Fu Ran feel guilty. How can Tian Han know anything? It's only I who's been burdened with knowing the future. I don't have to like him, but perhaps I shouldn't be treating him so harshly.

Fu Ran lowered his expression in self-disappointment and said, "It's nothing. This Peak Master just doesn't want to see you collapsing due to heat exhaustion."

After a few loud gulps, the water satchel was dropped to the wooden porch. Tian Han wiped off the excess drops of water from his mouth, then softly cast a glance in Fu Ran's direction. "May I ask something?"

"What is it?" Fu Ran cocked his head to the side.

Tian Han let his hand limply point toward the white sword at Fu Ran's hip. "Is there no way to use your blade to aid the investigation?" he asked.

Fu Ran began to feel his own inadequacies. "This master has tried. Shi Wei Ji has been of no aid to me right now. Most days I can only obtain one vision, and let's just say… that vision has been preoccupied with an unrelated one," he explained.

Throughout the day, the only vision his blade wanted to show him was the event of him being buried beneath mounds of dirt. Quite frankly, Fu Ran was tired of seeing his own demise.

That was the worst part of trying to use Calamity Recall, or any of Shi Wei Ji's smaller skills.

If an event's course did not change, the vision given by his blade would not change either. He would just receive the same fortune over and over until something changed the path of fate. Shi Wei Ji also preferred to prioritize deadly visions over finding lost items. Fu Ran breathed a heavy sigh.

As things were right now… he was going to end up dead under someone else's burial dirt!

Shi Wei Ji was too busy reminding Fu Ran that he should not trust Tian Han for even a single second, so of course, it wouldn't help him locate something more important.

Tian Han looked downtrodden. "Well, it can't be helped." He stood up and drank a few more sips from the satchel before drenching his face with the remaining water. Throughout all of that, he offered not a real complaint at all. And now he was back to work.

Where does he get his boundless energy? He's much like Wan Yu in that sense.

***

After only a few hours, a clang of metal rang out over the shrine clearing. "What was that?" Fu Ran asked. He wasted no time getting up from his resting spot and coming closer to where Tian Han's head poked out of a grave.

The veil of night had gotten quite thick, so a spiritual flame had been lit to hover around the digging grounds. Tian Han stood tall and wiped glistening sweat off his face.

"I hit something metal." He had dug about six feet down already, so Fu Ran kneeled onto the grass beside the hole and peered inside.

"Caskets aren't metal," Fu Ran murmured and squinted. "What is that?"

It looked like a flat piece of iron, or perhaps a sign. How on earth was it not rusted, and yet still buried so deep? Tian Han worked tirelessly to uncover a bit of covered scripture, but the characters were hard to make out in the current condition.

"Here, let me hel—" Before the sentence was even finished, Fu Ran was cut off.

"And get filthy again? You're wearing my robes now, remember? So I'd prefer you not." Tian Han chastised. "Besides, there's not really enough room."

Trying to help dig got Fu Ran scolded, but laying down made him feel like a true lazy master. And yet, when there were no fellow Peak Masters around to comment on his behavior, the latter was easily the safer choice.

So he did just that.

The sound of metal clinking against metal ran into his ears as he lay on the grass and watched the stars. Judging by the position of the moon, it was probably close to midnight.

"I wonder where the children are? Do you think they'll be able to find their way here? Or perhaps they've given up?" Fu Ran asked aloud.

"Well," Tian Han rasped, "what do you think? You're the teacher, right? Do you think they'd give up on their first mission?"

"And shouldn't you be more qualified to answer that? One of them is Wan Yu! What is Wan Yu to you, anyways? A son? A brother?" Fu Ran did think Tian Han didn't act like a father, but he did look old enough to be one. 

"He treats me like a brother, but I guess most people would consider him more like a son."

Fu Ran furrowed his brows and readjusted his hands beneath his head. "So is he not?"

Before he could get a response, the sound of scraping metal came to a stop, and Tian Han sank deeper into the grave. He was now moving soil with his hands.

"There are preparations to be made before you cross," Tian Han said, reading aloud.

Huh? Fu Ran thought that strange.

Fu Ran sat up and vocalized the rest of the familiar phrase. "As the sins of life are not cleansed by death?"

"Shizun is aware of the phrase?"

"What kind of cultivator would I be if I wasn't? Why on earth is there a burial gate here?" Fu Ran pulled himself up and leaned his body over the edge of the dirt. Sure enough, there was a metal archway barely visible where a coffin should be, and there was no body to be found.

The phrase he had just spoken was found on all burial gates in the region. The full thing went like this:

There are preparations to be made before you cross, as the sins of life are not cleansed by death.

Mind and body match heart and soul.

Stay the path of natural passage.

"Lots of cultivators, and average humans alike, live by this phrase in hopes of a better rebirth," Tian Han clarified.

"It's a shame it is only posted around graveyards and old shrines," Fu Ran chuckled before continuing. "What good does it do to remind the dead? The words are supposed to tell you that your preparations for death should be living well."

"For their second chance, perhaps?" Tian Han said simply, though his face seemed filled with troubled thoughts.

Fu Ran sat up straight and let his feet hang into the grave with Tian Han. "Something like this wouldn't be used as a spirit vessel. It is much too big. Though I am puzzled as to why it's here, I think it has nothing to do with the reported walking corpses."

Fu Ran's head turned to look at the shrine and the graveyard, overgrown with messy branches and weeds. "Besides, it could have been buried in some sort of natural disaster. This place is a mess."

Tian Han placed a hand on the grass beside Fu Ran and, with little effort, pushed himself up to sit on the edge. They sat knee to knee, and Tian Han scanned the area as well. "Then are we back to square one?"

Fu Ran's brows were furrowed, and with nervous laughter he said, "We found absolutely nothing. Perhaps my intuition was wrong." Fu Ran was fully prepared to give up on this current line of thought when the man beside him tensed.

"Do you hear… crying?" Tian Han asked.